Page 42 of Beneath Pearly Irish Skies
“Shit, I’m going to start bawling if we don’t stop this.” She rubbed her face. “Liam O’Hanlon, you’re a good man, and I’m the luckiest mother on earth to have you as my son.”
He kissed her cheek. “And I’m lucky to have you for a mum. Not too many mothers would talk to their adult son about having sex in the house. Were we going to divide up the rooms?”
“Stop it.” She punched him lightly. “A root canal was looking more tantalizing.”
Standing, he tapped her on the nose. “The Universe always provides, Mum. I hope you have sex soon. You can’t keep losing your car keys. You won’t be able to go anywhere.”
When Donal finally figured out a solution to their problem, she was fine with not going anywhere. They could stay home and have sex all day. Anywhere.
“I wonder what you’re thinking about, Mum.” He laughed when she threw Post-it notes at him. “I’ll be leaving you. I need to pull some things together to go over and do an energetic clearing of Summercrest. It’s a mess of lost dreams and longstanding grudges and some things I won’t tell you about because I don’t want you to have more trouble sleeping.”
“I won’t even ask how you’re going to do that,” she said with a shiver.
“Another beautiful gift from Bali. We’re going to bring it back to what it once was—what we all want in the end: a place of promise for a wonderful life. You have a shot at another one yourself. I hope you take it, Mum.”
Oh, her boy. “I love you, Liam.”
“Love you too, Mum,” he said, putting his hand to his heart. “Think you can find some time for us to have a few movie nights before I move out?”
Her heart throbbed in her chest. “You’re the one with all the girls and nights out.”
“I was giving you space,” he said with a knowing look, surprising her. “Besides, you’ll always be my number one girl.”
My, how she liked the sound of that. “I’d love to have a few nights with you like that.” Only this time there would be a different kind of sadness. Her boy was moving out.
“I’ll be making the popcorn since you always singe it. How does this Friday sound?”
“Wonderful. I’ll buy some ice cream.”
“One last thing, Mum,” he said, holding out his hands like he was testing heat from a stove. “Like I’ve told you before, Wyatt and Rhys and me really like Donal for you. So you should know, I’ll be out of the house for at least three hours if you’d like to call him. I can also bunk somewhere else tonight. Or you can put a handkerchief on the doorknob of your room of choice.”
“Oh, get out of here,” she said, waving her hand at him. “We’re not having sex just yet.”
His brow rose. “Do you need to talk about why not?”
“I’d rather eat frog legs!” She stood. “Out! Go clear that creepy manor. Sounds like you have your hands full.”
“I have a hunch that Sorcha is going to help me.” He grinned. “I feel her around sometimes. I always did like that girl.”
With that, he left. She sank into her chair. Sorcha. Bets had suspected she might be around after catching a whiff of her orange scent months ago, when her cousins had first come to Ireland. She’d meant to ask someone about it, but her focus had shifted to other matters: finding more money for the arts center and having sex with Donal.
She reached for her phone and texted him.
Liam is moving out in a few weeks. How is your side of our problem coming along?
She waited for his charming reply, full of his usual misspellings, which she’d learned had less to do with an ignorance of grammar and spelling and more to do with the size of his hands. They were really big.
Like other things.
She headed to the fridge for an ice cube as her body blazed with heat. Her phone beeped with his response as she cracked the ice tray and pressed the cube to her hot neck.
I have a lead on somethang Brilliant. Are you good with Liam moving Out? He’ll be happy lving with Declan and Brady, although Summercrest is haunted. I Believe the Old stories.
Another chill touched her skin. She wasn’t surprised he already knew about the move. News traveled fast in Caisleán, and Summercrest Manor would be a hot topic for gossips. Locals thought it was haunted—Donal included, clearly—but it wouldn’t be after Liam did his clearing ceremony. The boys had loved sneaking onto the grounds when they were kids, but Liam was right, Jamie had never enjoyed tagging along. Declan, however, had said he loved the dungeon and that one day he’d buy the place, and so he had.
Liam and I had a nice talk, and I’m good with it, although I’ll miss him. Any news on our permit for St. Stephen’s Day?
She tossed the dripping ice cube into the sink and waited for his reply.
